The Great American Steamboat Race
Page 27
18. Ibid.
Chapter 4
1. S.C. Gilfillan, Inventing the Ship, page 73.
2. Ibid., page 74.
3. Fulton letter to Livingston dated June 13, 1802, Clermont State Historic Park . Quoted in Cynthia Owen Philip, Robert Fulton, A Biography, page 131.
4. Kirkpatrick Sale, The Fire of His Genius, pages 87–88.
5. James Flexner, Steamboats Come True: American Inventors in Action, pages 291–292.
6. Ibid., page 119.
7. American Citizen, August 17, 1807. Quoted in Philip, page 199.
8. From the account that appears on pages 202–203 of Robert Fulton and the Clermont (New York : Century, 1909), by Alice Crary Sutcliffe, Fulton’s great-granddaughter.
9. Philip, page 202.
Chapter 5
1. Lydia years later wrote a letter to E.W. Gould recounting her experiences on the voyage. Part of the letter is reprinted in Gould’s book, Gould’s History of River Navigation, pages 87–89.
2. Gould, page 88.
3. Ibid., page 89.
4. Ibid., page 97.
5. Ibid.
6. Ibid., pages 88–89.
7. Ibid., page 84.
8. Henry Howe, The Great West, page 241.
9. Gould, pages 98–99.
Chapter 6
1. Herbert Quick and Edward Quick, Mississippi Steamboatin’, page 89. Other sources vary.
2. Quoted in Florence L. Dorsey, Master of the Mississippi, page 111.
3. Quoted in Adam I. Kane, The Western River Steamboat, page 50.
4. Quick and Quick, page 92.
5. Dorsey, page 128.
6. Samuel Treat, “Political Portraits With Pen and Pencil: Henry Miller Shreve,” The United States Magazine and Democratic Review volume 22, 1848.
7. Quoted in Dorsey, page 138.
Chapter 7
1. Fred Erving Dayton, Steamboat Days, page 92.
2. Ibid., pages 93–94.
3. Ibid., page 108.
4. Quick and Quick, pages 170–171.
5. Erick F. Haites, James Mak, and Gary M. Walton, Western River Transportation, 1810–1860, page 158.
6. Quick and Quick, pages 175–177.
7. Ibid., pages 175–176.
8. Dayton, page 349.
Chapter 8
1. Twain, page 2 18.
2. Ibid., page 222.
3. B.A. Botkin, A Treasury of Mississippi Folklore, page 334. From “Steamboats at Louisville and on the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers,” by Arthur E. Hopkins, The Filson Club History Quarterly 17, no. 3 ( July 1943), pages 146–148.
4. George Byron Merrick, Old Times on the Upper Mississippi: The Recollections of a Steamboat Pilot from 1854 to 1863 (St. Paul: Minnesota Historical Society Press, 1987), page 152.
5. Quoted from an account written by Frederick Law Olmsted around 1856. Published in Fred Erving Davis, Steamboat Days, page 347.
6. Quick and Quick, page 254.
7. Ibid., page 128.
8. Merrick, pages 156–157.
9. John Morris, Wanderings of a Vagabond (New York : self-published, 1873), pages 422– 425.
10. Ibid.
11. Ibid.
12. Ibid.
13. Ibid., pages 140–141.
14. Devol, pages 177–178. 9. The number of victims of the Titanic, which sank in the north Atlantic on April 15, 1912, is also in dispute, the estimates ranging from 1,490 to 1,523.
Chapter 9
1. All these statistics are from Thomas C. Buchanan’s Black Life on the Mississippi, page 10.
2. Quick and Quick, pages 235–236.
3. Buchanan, page 57.
4. Ibid.
5. Frederick Law Olmsted, Cotton Kingdom, page 274.
6. Twain, page 72.
7. Buchanan, page 71.
8. Merrick, page 128.
9. Ibid., page 135.
10. Ibid., page 134.
11. Dayton, page 343.
Chapter 10
1. Gould, page 63 1.
2. Quick and Quick, pages 166–167.
3. Merrick, page 72.
4. Ibid., page 74.
5. Gould, pages 682–683.
6. Ray Samuel, Leonard V. Huber, and Warren C. Ogden, Tales of the Mississippi, pages 189–190.
7. Ibid., page 190.
8. Ibid., page 191.
9. Merrick, pages 68–69.
10. Quick and Quick, page 194.
11. Ibid., page 190.
12. Ibid., pages 185–186.
13. Merrick, page 90.
14. Twain, page 160.
15. Merrick, page 57.
Chapter 11
1. Samuel, Huber and Ogden, page 145.
2. Ralph K. Andrist, Steamboats on the Mississippi, page 119.
3. Another source says the ship was named the Trenton.
4. Gould, page 459.
5. Botkin, pages 294–295.
6. Ibid., pages 124–125.
7. Samuel, Huber and Ogden, pages 123–124.
8. Jerry O. Potter, The Sultana Tragedy, page 68.
Chapter 12
1. Picayune, July 6, 1870, page 2. 2. St. Louis Republican, July 3, 1870, page
1 .
3. Picayune, July 6, 1870, page 2. 4. Ibid., July 3, 1870, page 1.
5. Ibid., July 6, 1870.
6. Ibid.
7. Ibid.
8. Ibid.
9. Ibid., July 3, 1870, page 1.
10. St. Louis Republican, July 4, 1870, page 1.
11. Ibid.
12. Ibid.
13. Ibid.
14. Picayune, July 4, 1870, page 1.
15. Alfred Pirtle article in the Louisville Courier-Journal, undated clip in New York Public Library Science and Technology section.
16. Picayune, July 5, 1870.
17. Ibid.
Chapter 13
1. St. Louis Republican, July 6, 1870.
2. John Wiest in interview with Alfred Pirtle, Louisville Courier-Journal, undated clip in New York Public Library Science and Technology section.
3. Ibid.
4. Ibid.
Chapter 14
1. From the St. Louis Democrat, reprinted in the New Orleans Daily Picayune, July 9, 1870, page 1.
2. Picayune, July 6, 1870, page 1.
3. Ibid., July 9, 1870, page 1.
4. Ibid.
5. Ibid.
6. St. Louis Republican, July 6, 1870.
7. The names of the note’s signatories, in the order in which they signed: S.H. Parsiot, A.C. McKeen, Mrs. A.C. McKeen, Miss Maggie McKeen, Francis Shuber, Mrs. F. Shuber, Miss A. Shuber, Mrs. Barry, F. Lonsdale, E.P. Johnson, Edward S. Levy, L.M.
Levy, R.W. Doyle, John Kours, W.L. Calhoun, C. Holmes, Lytle Rowan, J.W. Dougherty, A.L. Long, Albert G. Eberman, J. Kain, Thos. Skinner, J.R. Scanlan, E.M. Jones, John Crozier, J.N. Ryley, G. Williams, R. Frazier, M. Martin, J. Shurad, Alex Warwick of New York.
8. Manly Wade Wellman, Fastest on the River, page 131.
9. St. Louis Republican, July 6, 1870. 10. Ibid.
11. Ibid.
12. The interview was reprinted in the Picayune, July 9, 1870.
13. Editorial quoted in Wellman, page 136.
14. Details of the banquet and quotes of the speakers are from the St. Louis Republican, July 6, 1870.
Epilogue
1. Gould, page 725.
2. Quoted in Wellman, page 174.
3. Ibid.
4. Gould, pages 586–587.
5. Twain, pages 322–323.
6. Ibid., page 135.
Bibliography
Books
Ambrose, Stephen E. Nothing Like It in the World: The Men Who Built the Transcontinental Railroad, 1863–1869. New York : Simon & Schuster, 2000.
Andrist, Ralph K. Steamboats on the Mississippi. New York : American Heritage, 1962.
Barkhau, Roy L. The Great Steamboat Race Between the Natchez and the Rob’t. E. Lee. Cincinnati: Steamship Historical Society of America, Cincinnati Chapter
, 1962.
Berry, Chester D., ed. Loss of the Sultana and Reminiscences of Survivors. Knoxville : University of Tennessee Press, 2005.
Botkin, B.A., ed. A Treasury of Mississippi River Folklore. New York : Bonanza Books, 1978.
Brown, William Wells. The Narrative of William W. Brown, a Fugitive Slave. Boston: IndyPublish.com, 2006.
Bryant, Billy. Children of Ol’ Man River. Chicago: Lakeside Press, 1988.
Bryant, William O. Cahaba Prison and the Sultana Disaster. Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press, 1990.
Buchanan, Thomas C. Black Life on the Mississippi. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2004.
Burman, Ben Lucien. Look Down that Winding River. New York : Taplinger, 1973.
Cameron, Barbara, and Jerry Stebbins. Mississippi River: A Photographic Journey. New York : St. Martin’s Press, 1987.
Cooley, Thomas M., et al. The American Railway, Its Construction, Development, Management, and Appliances. New York : Arno Press, 1976.
Dangerfield, George. Chancellor Robert R. Livingston of New York, 1746–1813. New York : Harcourt, Brace, 1960.
Dayton, Fred Erving. Steamboat Days. New York : Tudor, 1939.
Devol, George H. Forty Years a Gambler on the Mississippi. Bedford, MA : Applewood Books, 1996.
Dorsey, Florence L. Master of the Mississippi. Gretna, LA : Pelican, 1998.
Elliott, James W. Transport to Disaster. New York : Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1962.
Feldman, Jay. When the Mississippi Ran Backwards. New York : The Free Press, 2005.
Fichter, George S. First Steamboat Down the Mississippi. Gretna, LA : Pelican, 1989.
Fleming, Thomas. The Louisiana Purchase. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley, 2003.
Flexner, James Thomas. Steamboats Come True: American Inventors in Action. New York : Fordham University Press, 1992.
203
Gilfillan, S.C. Inventing the Ship. Chicago: Follett, 1935.
Gordon, Sarah H. Passage to Union: How the Railroads Transformed American Life,
1 829–1929. Chicago: Elephant Paperbacks, 1997.
Gould, E.W. Gould’s History of River Navigation. St. Louis: Nixon-Jones Printing,
1889.
Graham, Philip. Showboats: The History of an American Institution. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1951.
Haites, Erik F., James Mak, and Gary M. Walton. Western River Transportation: The Era of Early Internal Development, 1810–1860. Baltimore : Johns Hopkins University Press, 1975.
Holbrook, Stewart H. The Story of American Railroads. New York : Crown, 1947. Jensen, Oliver. The American Heritage History of Railroads in America. New York : Bonanza Books, 1975.
Kane, Adam L. The Western River Steamboat. College Station, TX : Texas A&M University Press, 2004.
Kane, Harnett T. Natchez on the Mississippi. New York : Bonanza Books, 1947. Kukla, Jon. A Wilderness So Immense: The Louisiana Purchase and the Destiny of America. New York : Anchor Books, 2004.
Latrobe, John H.B. Southern Travels: Journal of John H.B. Latrobe 1834. New Orleans: Historic New Orleans Collection, 1986.
Lucas, Theo., Frank D. Graham, and N. Hawkins. Audel’s New Marine Engineers Guide. New York : Audel, 1918.
Marquette, Jacques. Voyages of Marquette. Ann Arbor: University Microfilms, 1966. Mason, Philip P., ed. Schoolcraft’s Expedition to Lake Itasca: The Discovery of the Source of the Mississippi. East Lansing : Michigan State University Press, 1993. McCague, James. Mississippi Steamboat Days. Champaign, IL: Garrard, 1967. McCall, Edith. Mississippi Steamboatman: The Story of Henry Miller Shreve. New York : Walker, 1986.
Merrick, George Byron. Old Times on the Upper Mississippi: The Recollections of a Steamboat Pilot from 1854 to 1863. St. Paul: Minnesota Historical Society Press,
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Morrison, John H. History of American Steam Navigation. New York : Stephen Daye Press, 1958.
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Street, Julian. American Adventures. New York : Century, 1917.
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Newspapers
Louisville Courier-Journal St. Louis Democrat
Memphis Appeal St. Louis Republican
New Orleans Daily Picayune
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Index
Álvarez de Piñeda, Alonso 19 Clermont 64
barbers 118, 127 Clermont, N.Y. 49, 64
Barlow, Joel 54, 58, 61 Coca-Cola 30
Barlow, Ruth 54–55, 61 Comet 78, 82, 84
bars 127, 131 construction improvements 95–96 bartenders 127 cooks 124–126
Baton Rouge, La. 28, 41–43, 69, 76, 102 crew, meals 119–121; racial and ethnic comBayou Sara, La. 28, 43 position 118–119; racial violence 119; segBeidenharm, J.A. 30 regation 119–120; slaves 117–119, 126 Ben Sherrod 128, 147–149 cuisine 106
Berry, Tom 36, 39 Daily Picayune 3–4, 45–47, 119, 151, 169, Bofinger, John N. 134 175, 185
Bonaparte, Napoleon 25, 52 Daily States 196
British invasion 80–82 deckhands 118, 121, 123–124, 137 Brown, William Wells 117–118, 127 description, steamboat 83, 96, 102–108 Buchanan, Thomas C. 118 de Soto, Hernando 19–20 Burnham, Mort 45, 180 Devil’s Country 179
Cabeza de Vaca, A.N. 19 Devol, George H. 46, 114–115 Cairo, Ill. 16, 32, 160, 163, 173, 175–180, Dickens, Charles 90, 109
1 89 Donaldsonville, La. 28, 38 calliope 110 Eads, James B. 186
Cannon, John W. 7–8, 10–18, 35–42, 44, Eclipse 104
1 46–147, 167–168, 170–171, 174–177, 179– Effie Afton 156–158
182, 185–186, 189–192, 194–195 engineers 131, 139–140, 144 Cannon, William 194–195 Enterprise 78–83, 85–86 Cape Girardeau, Mo. 32, 179–180, 189 firemen 123–124
captains 129–137, 140, 144, 151 first mates 137–138, 144
cargo 97–99 Frank Pargoud 167–168, 176, 188 Cass, Lewis 23 freight rates 96, 132
Cass Lake 23 French, Augustus Byron 136 chambermaids 126 French, Callie Leach 136 Chapman family 197 French, Daniel 77–79, 83–84 Chevalier, Michael 151 Fulton, Robert 27, 52–65, 69, 75, 77–78, Cincinnati, Ohio 66–67, 70–71, 85, 87, 82, 84, 89, 91
94, 150, 153, 159, 175, 189, 195 gambling 112–116
Cincinnati Gazette 189 George Washington 87
Clayton, Frank 45, 180 Goldenrod 197
Clayton, George 176, 181, 192 Gould, E.W. 1, 195, 197
Clemens, Samuel L. 5, 28, 30, 101–102, Grampus 145–146
122–123, 144, 198 Grand Tower 181–182
clerks 131, 138, 144 Greene, Mary Becker (Ma) 136
207 208 Index
Helena, Ark. 3 1, 47, 168–170
Hopkins, Arthur E. 102
Hudson River 49, 58–59, 62, 89�
��90, 129 ice 155
Idlewild 175–176
Jackson, Andrew 80–81
Jameson, Jesse 176, 180
Jefferson, Thomas 25, 52
J.M. White 10, 191–192
Joliet, Louis 20–21
King, Enoch 176, 180
Lake Itasca 24
Lake Providence, La. 30
LaSalle, R.R. Cavelier 21–23
Leathers, Blanche Douglass 135–136 Leathers, Bowling 135, 196
Leathers, Thomas P. 8–10, 42–47, 135–136,
1 67–169, 174, 178–182, 187–192, 195–
196
Lincoln, Abraham 157–158, 160
Livingston, Edward 80, 82, 85–87 Livingston, John 75
Livingston, Robert R. 25, 49, 51–52, 54–
62, 64, 69, 75, 77, 80, 89
Louisiana 11, 38, 146
Louisville, Ky. 67–68, 71–72, 77, 82, 85,
104, 175
Marquette, Père Jacques 20–21
Marshall, Chief Justice John 89
meals, service 120–121
Memphis, Tenn. 31, 149, 160, 163, 170–174,
194
Merrick, George Byron 110, 112–113, 124–
125, 127, 132–133, 137–138, 144
Miller, Mary 136
Monroe, James 25
music, on steamboats 109–110
names, for steamboats 134–135
Napoleon, Ark. 30–31, 169
Natchez 1, 2, 4, 6–10, 12–18, 35, 38, 41–47,
135, 167–182, 185–191, 193–196
Natchez, Miss. 28–29, 44, 68, 74–75, 77,
126, 128, 147, 194, 196
New Madrid, Mo. 31, 68, 74, 174
New Orleans 27, 69–77, 79
New Orleans, La. 3–11, 13–16, 18, 25, 27,
35–36, 38, 42–43, 45, 47, 65–66, 68–
69, 75, 77–82, 84–87, 98–99, 101–102,
104, 109, 115–117, 126, 128–131, 145–147,
160, 176, 184, 188, 190, 193–194, 196 Newcomen engine 50–51
North River Steam Boat 64, 89
Olmsted, Frederick Law 103
Pakenham, Edward 81
passenger rates 97, 109, 132
Perkins, William 36, 39
Perrier, Jacques 57–58
pilots 121–122, 133, 140, 142–144
Pittsburgh, Pa. 65–67, 70, 77–80, 83, 94,
11 5, 129
Plaquemine, La. 40–41
population growth 99
porters 126–127
Quick, Herbert and Edward 6, 140, 142–
1 43
rate wars 132
receipts, steamboat 97–98
Reelfoot Lake 74